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Saudi Arabia reviewing driving ban on women - reports

by Maria Caspani | www.twitter.com/MariaCaspani85 | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Wednesday, 27 November 2013 13:03 GMT

Saudi authorities are reassessing a controversial ban on women’s right to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom, according to media reports citing activists and the kingdom's interior minister.

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Saudi authorities are reassessing a controversial ban on women’s right to drive in the ultra-conservative kingdom, according to media reports citing activists and the kingdom's interior minister.

"Rest assured that the issue is being discussed, and expect a good outcome," Prince Mohammed bin Nayef,  the Saudi interior minister, said, according to female activists Aziza al-Yousef and Hala al-Dosari who said in reports that they met him.

The meeting took place at the minister’s office, Yousef said, although the exchange happened through a video conference, as dictated by the country’s strict rules of segregation between men and women.

Prince Mohammed, Saudi Arabia's long-time security chief, also stressed that the driving ban was "a matter to be decided by the legislative authority," according to media reports.

"We expect a royal decree that gives us this right," Yousef said.

Last month, female members of Saudi Arabia's influential Shoura Council – an appointed consultative body with no legislative power that advises King Abdullah - proposed allowing women to drive, challenging a tradition upheld by the deeply conservative clerical establishment.

King Abdullah has pushed some cautious reforms, expanding female education and employment. But he has also been careful not to open big rifts with conservative clerics.

On Oct. 26, footage was published on YouTube and Twitter showing some women driving in Saudi cities and defying government warnings of arrest and prosecution to take part in a campaign against men-only road rules, activists said.

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